Latest news with #LeinsterHurlingFinal
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Kilkenny v Galway LIVE score updates from the Leinster hurling final
For the ninth time since 2009, Kilkenny and Galway are meeting in the Leinster Hurling final. Galway were welcomed into the Leinster fold in 2009, and they have proven to be Kilkenny's biggest challengers in the provincial championship. But after consecutive victories for Galway in 2017 and 2018, Kilkenny have reasserted their dominance and are seeking a sixth Leinster title in a row. This match has had added spice in recent years, with the frosty handshake between Brian Cody and then-Galway boss Henry Shefflin going down in the annals. And Galway will be hoping that the return of Micheal Donoghue, who guided them to the 2017 All-Ireland title, will be the catalyst for them regaining power in Leinster. The match is scheduled for a 4pm throw-in at Croke Park, and you can follow all the action right here on Irish Mirror Sport. RTE Two will also have live coverage of the game and it can be streamed on the RTE Player. Kilkenny: E. Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, T Walsh; M Carey, R Reid, P Deegan; C Kenny, J Molloy; J Donnelly, A Mullen, B Ryan; S Donnelly, TJ Reid, M Keoghan. Subs: A Tallis, P Moylan, D Blanchfield, S Murphy, K Doyle, Z Bay Hammond, F Mackessy, H Shine, L Hogan, L Connellan, M Murphy. Galway: E Murphy; P Mannion, Daithí Burke, F Burke; C Fahy, G Lee, TJ Brennan; S Linnane, David Burke; J Fleming, C Mannion, T Monaghan; C Whelan, B Concannon, K Cooney. Subs: D Walsh, D Morrissey, J Grealish, J Ryan, D Loftus, R Glennon, C Cooney, T Killeen, A Burns, C Molloy, J Flynn. Hello and welcome to live coverage as Kilkenny take on Galway in the Leinster Hurling Final. Hurling fans will be hoping for a similar spectacle to last night's Munster Final but the likelihood of which is incredibly low. In the same way that Limerick were chasing seven Munster titles in a row, Kilkenny have had a stranglehold of this competition and chasing a sixth successive title. Today's game throws in at 4 pm at Croke Park with RTE Two showing live coverage of the game and it is available to stream on the RTE Player. We will have live coverage of the game here on the Irish Mirror.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Condensed season gives little time to savour championship
In terms of hurling, this has to be one of the great weekends of the year with three blockbuster games, including two provincial finals, down for decision. Once again, the TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick will be jammed to capacity as over 44,000 people fill every seat and stand on the terraces behind the Ennis Road goals or the City End as we look across at Thomond Park and the Clare hills in the distance. And all of this on a Saturday evening. On Sunday, Croke Park will have an expected attendance of over 30,000 for the Leinster Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Galway, which will be preceded by the much anticipated clash between Kildare and Laois in the Joe Mc Donagh Cup Final. All three games will be televised live by RTÉ and there will be commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. The 'Split Season' has its supporters and its detractors, but when we have three crucial games being played between a Saturday evening and a Sunday afternoon on one weekend, it really highlights the impact the condensed calendar is having. Nobody involved - from players, managers, officials, fans, or those of us who work in the media - have the time or the space to actually savour and enjoy the championships any more. There is little or no time to analyse in some depth the learnings from games last weekend or preview matches coming down the tracks. In the past, the summer really belonged to the GAA, but with the 'Split Season' in operation, this has dramatically changed. The GAA is in direct competition in terms of media coverage with other sports who fully deserve their coverage by RTÉ and other media outlets. Last Tuesday, I filmed in Croke Park interviews with Galway's Cathal Mannion, Kilkenny's Adrian Mullen, David Dooley from Laois and Paddy McKenna, the Kildare goalkeeper, and my report previewing the Leinster Hurling Final and Joe Mc Donagh Cup Final was broadcast on Tuesday evening on the Six One News. This evening, I will be broadcasting live from Bruree in Co Limerick - very close to the Cork border - where I will be interviewing two former stars, TJ Ryan and Pat Mulcahy, as we look ahead to tomorrow's Munster Hurling Final, which has traditionally been one of the biggest games of the year. We only have limited space and time in the bulletin. The sports news will also have my colleague Tony O'Donoghue reporting live from the Aviva Stadium on the Republic of Ireland v Senegal soccer friendly, Leinster v Glasgow in the United Rugby Championship, the Women's Nations League Draw which involves our Republic of Ireland team in a promotion/relegation play off, The French Open tennis championship, the Tenerife and Canadian Golf Open, the Epsom Oaks in racing and me and the lads in Bruree talking about tomorrow's Munster Hurling Final. Do you get my point? It's a crowded market and the GAA is a huge part of that market but it's still very busy. In the past the Munster and Leinster Hurling Finals would be played in July with little or no competition in terms of sport to the GAA world. But it's different now. That's just one negative but a very big negative. And it's not just us in RTE that find the situation challenging but other media outlets have the same experiences. The back pages are no longer always dominated by GAA headlines. As I said there's so much going on. Next year there will be a bit more space given between the finals of the Allianz National Leagues and the start of the championships, but it will only be a small window of opportunity. As it stands the All-Ireland Hurling Final next year is on the same day as the World Cup Final which will be played at the MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, near New York. Do you get my point? To be fair and balanced the 'Split Season' has the positive effect of giving club players across the country a clear plan in terms of fixtures, but ultimately most county finals are still not played until the middle or late October so perhaps more space can be given to the hurling championship so that it can be played during the summer months of June and July and extended to at least August and breathe a little. Getting back to this weekend, the timing of the Munster Hurling Final on a Saturday evening at 6pm is not a "normal" time for a GAA match of this gravitas or magnitude. Saturday afternoons in any of our cities means a shopping day for most people so combining that factor with a huge crowd heading to the match means that we all will be travelling very early to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick and probably log jammed for hours afterwards despite the huge effort of gardaí who always do a great job in moving the traffic as quickly as they can. The hurling people of Ireland are loyal to the game and many would also travel to Croke Park on Sunday if they could to watch Kilkenny v Galway in the Leinster Final, but the reality is that many of them will be turned off by the logistical difficulties they would have to overcome to get there. There is also a strong argument that this match hould be played at a provincial venue like Portlaoise or Tullamore where 30,000 fans attending would bring an electric atmosphere to the occasion. The same number of people in Croke Park will mean a more than half empty stadium which won't add in any way to the atmosphere around the ground, or have that visual impact that a full venue would have for the people in attendance or the hundreds of thousands watching on television. Leinster Council has shown great vision this year with some of its calls so perhaps the decision to move the Leinster Hurling Final out of Croke Park in 2026 might be considered in its review later this year. The weekend pictures on the TV and the difference between the scenes in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick tomorrow evening and Croke Park on Sunday might just persuade everyone that it's the right thing to do.
